Underneath the Mistletoe
by ceredonia
Summary: Taichi and Chihaya find themselves underneath the mistletoe. Written for Trope Bingo, Mistletoe Kiss square.


"Chihaya…will you…"

Taichi took a deep breath, staring straight ahead, as though he were about to attack his opponent's karuta cards. His hands were clenched tightly together in fists, his knuckles white.

"Will you..._kiss me at midnight_?" he blurted out, squeezing his eyes closed as the words flew out of his mouth.

A moment passed in silence and he cracked one eye open, afraid to see how that had turned out. His own face glared back at him in the bathroom mirror, cheeks flared with embarrassment, a thin sheen of sweat covering his brow. He exhaled slowly, trying to calm his nerves.

_Stupid Porky_. He'd decided to throw a holiday party at his parents' house, and of course he'd invited the entire karuta club. They were supposed to dress up "semi-casual," whatever that meant, so Taichi had decided on a nice pair of slacks and a button-up shirt, sans tie. He'd debated back and forth for nearly twenty minutes about the tie, ultimately deciding it was more likely to strangle him than actually help his cause.

His cause, of course, was to get a kiss from Chihaya at midnight.

Taichi flexed his fingers, wiggling them as they extended and curled back in, trying to get sensation back into the tips. He gave himself one final glance in the mirror and nodded firmly, setting his expression into one of determination and confidence.

He opened the bathroom door and carefully slipped outside, hoping no one had noticed he'd been gone for ten minutes. He'd gotten to the party early after the whole tie debacle in his bedroom, and not wanting to just hang around watching Porky finish setting out plates of food, he'd ducked into the bathroom to psych himself up. Apparently the others had arrived just after he did, and the small gathering seemed to be in full swing as he entered the living room.

Kanade had decided to wear a full kimono, and he smiled at the sight of her so excited. She was showing off the perfect stitching to Tsutomu, who, luckily, was somewhat underdressed as well, wearing a simple pair of slacks and a sweater, his large square glasses covering most of his face. Porky was standing over at the snacks table, loading up a large paper plate with various kinds of chips and other things he didn't recognize from the distance. He was dressed in jeans and a button-up shirt that looked so snug, Taichi was afraid it might burst. He gathered that Porky didn't go shopping often for nicer clothes.

Taichi frowned, not seeing Chihaya anywhere. Was she _seriously_ going to be late? Porky had invited them a full three weeks earlier, insisting that they all come over to watch the last year's Masters competition again "for critiquing purposes," at least until the fireworks at midnight. She had been the most excited, declaring that she would bring refreshments.

"Okay, I found glasses for everyone! Porky, is it okay that we use your parents nice ones? I know we're not supposed to, but it's a holiday party!"

He turned to see Chihaya approaching from the doorway to the kitchen, her hands folding a tray filled with glasses half-full of some sort of sparkling liquid. Porky let out a yell, shaking his head.

"That's fine, but be _careful_!" he said sternly, walking over to her. "Here, gimme that tray, I can take it over to the table for you."

"I've _got_ it! Sheesh, I'm not—" She stumbled over the edge of a nearby rug, the tray shaking in her hands as she began to lose her balance. Before he realized what was happening, Taichi was immediately next to her, his hands on the edges of the tray, his fingers touching hers. She smiled up at him gratefully, her cheeks beginning to flush with embarrassment.

"Sorry," she apologized. He took the tray and handed it off to Porky, who was glaring at both of them. Taichi laughed, gently hooking his hand under her elbow.

"Come on, let's go get a snack," he suggested, suddenly much calmer now that he had seen her acting normally.

"Oh, good idea! I'm starving!"

She broke away from him and ran over to the snack table, and he stared after her, smiling. She was wearing a bright red party dress that reached her knees, with little straps with bows striping over her shoulders. It was patterned with various swirly designs in red, orange, and yellow, and looked like a sunset on a hot summer's day. Paired with a simple pair of black ballet flats, her hair pulled up into a loose bun with tendrils of hair falling towards her shoulders, she looked completely different than he was used to seeing. He could feel himself blushing the longer he looked at her, and coughed to clear his throat, which had suddenly begun to tighten with worry.

"Is everything okay, Taichi?"

He started; feeling panicked at the sudden intrusion into his thoughts, he looked down into the wide eyes of Kanade, who was smiling up at him. "Oh, Kanade! Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. Just…thinking about stuff."

"Anything you want to talk about?" She followed his previous line of vision and raised a small eyebrow. "Do you need help with anything tonight?" she asked with a mischievous smile.

He'd never seen her give anyone that sort of look before, and it was kind of freaking him out. "No…no, I'm fine, thanks."

"Watch out for the porch," she warned, a twinkle in her eye.

"The porch?" he echoed. "What—"

She was already gone, off talking with Porky about helping clean up the already-emptied chip bowls. Suddenly Chihaya was at his side, munching on a small sandwich, a glass of the sparkling liquid in her hand.

"What _is_ that?" he asked, gesturing to the glass.

"Oh, just sparkling cider. My sister said I should bring it with me, she said it makes it more 'festive' or something." Chihaya took a sip and scrunched up her face. "It's really not that good though."

"Do you want me to get you water instead?" he offered, chuckling.

"Yeah, thanks." She handed him the glass and their hands touched briefly, sending a shiver throughout his body. He immediately stiffened and gripped the glass tightly, smiling awkwardly. "I'm going to get some fresh air out on the porch, want to join me?" she offered.

"_Yes_!" Taichi wanted to smack himself for answering so quickly, and he felt his smile disappear. "I mean, yeah, that's, uh, that sounds great. I'll go get us some water first though."

"Okay!" Chihaya skipped off towards the sliding glass doors, pulling them open as he stalked over to the kitchen, setting down the drink on the counter, half-slamming cabinets open and closed until he found two regular glasses. He filled them in the sink, his hands trembling, and spilled most of the water, angrily muttering at himself the entire time. Finally they were mostly full and he carefully dried the outsides of the glasses with a hand towel, holding one in each hand as he approached the glass door, tapping on it. Chihaya turned and smiled, reaching out to slide it open so he could step outside.

"Here you go," he greeted, holding out one of the glasses. She took it with a smile and lifted it to her lips, taking a long drink. As she moved the glass away he noticed a smear of something on the edge, and realized she was wearing colored lip gloss.

She'd _never_ worn lip gloss for as long as he could remember.

"It's cold out here, but it's nice," she said, leaning over the railing, her glass still in her hand. He nodded, even though she couldn't see him, and set his glass on the ground, walking over to stand on her left. He leaned over the railing as well, watching some of the lights on the surrounding houses flicker off as people came home to go to bed. It was starting to get late.

"Oh, sorry. Here." He reached over and gently touched her left arm, running his fingers over her skin. She smiled and turned her head to look at him.

"Your hands are really hot!" she said with a laugh, shaking her head. The mess of hair on her head bounced as she moved, and another strand of hair fell out from the front, moving in front of her eyes.

"You've got to be more careful," he lectured, reaching up to move the hair out of her face. "I bet your sister did your hair, didn't she? And here you're going to ruin it so quickly."

She blushed, frowning. "_I_ did this," she replied, sounding defensive. "I don't completely fail at being a girl _all _the time, you know."

"No, I know." Taichi sighed, turning to look back over the balcony. Why did he always have to mess everything up? And it had been going so well…

"Sorry," she apologized, reaching over to lightly brush her fingers over the back of his hand, which was gripping the railing. "I just wanted to look good tonight. I'll try harder next time."

"What?! No, you—you look fantastic!" _God, don't oversell it, you idiot_, he lectured himself internally, wishing he could smack himself right then.

"Really?" She looked down at her dress, setting her glass on a small table a foot away. "I feel like this isn't fancy enough. I knew I should have borrowed one of Chitose's dresses."

"No, you really look great. I really like that dress on you." _Great, keep talking like that and she'll get freaked out. Calm down, man._ "I mean, red's a good color on you."

"Thanks."

He finally gathered the courage to look back at her and saw that she was transfixed with something overhead, dangling from the roof overhang. He narrowed his eyes, trying to identify the object—the porch light was pretty weak.

"Mistletoe," he said, a wave of weakness hitting his knees. He held onto the porch railing with his left hand, trying to steady himself.

"_Watch out for the porch,"_ he heard Kanade's voice echo in his head. He squeezed his eyes shut and quickly counted to five, trying to gather his wits.

"How sweet!" Chihaya clapped her hands together, laughing. "I love traditions like that. They're so romantic."

"Really?" Taichi's chest tightened with what he really hoped wasn't the beginning of a panic attack. "I mean, yeah, they are."

She smiled at him, her eyes shining under the dim lighting. "Hey, Taichi?"

"Yeah?" He felt like he was about to faint.

"Do you…" She hesitated, looking as though she was trying to choose the right words instead of just blurting out whatever came to mind first. She glanced at the glass door, seeing that everyone inside was busy watching the television, not paying attention to them. "Do you want to kiss me?"

Taichi's head was spinning and he fumbled to articulate the emotions that were spilling into his body, threatening to combust and leave him dead on the porch. "I—"

"Oh my god, I can't believe I just _said _that," Chihaya said quietly, her eyes brimming with tears. "I'm so stupid, I'm sorry, that's so rude, I just—"

His right hand shot out and grabbed her arm, pulling her close to him. He tilted his head and pressed their lips together without thinking, without caring what happened next. Her face was warm; he could feel the heat radiating from her cheeks as they kissed.

She moved away a moment later, awkwardness instantly filling the space between them, a cold breeze drifting through the air. He could tell his face was crimson, as was hers, and they both looked down at the ground, his hand still holding her arm.

"Happy holidays, Taichi," she finally said, a small smile cracking her blushing façade as she raised her eyes to look at him.

"Happy holidays, Chihaya," he replied, unable to control the gigantic grin spreading across his face.


End file.
